Germany had better shake itself free or France is going to drag them into economic hell also. It's bizarre watching Greece fail in front of our eyes - and other countries using them as a blueprint instead of a warning.

If you Google this, as I did because the blog link didn't have an obvious link to a news article, you'll see that Mr. Depp did this last year even before the new French governments new tax scheme. At the time, he was avoiding income tax in both the USA and the French republic. So much of this was his avoiding renouncing his American citizenship over the USA insisting on taxing the foreign income of its citizens.

Of course, with the new 75% tax rate in France, he might have gone from staying out of France for the 183 days needed for legal residence, to the mode of not being caught dead in the country despite his French wife, and Francophone children.

His direct quote suggests that he is not willing to give up American citizenship, and now that France has reoriented its political policy, he would be subject to progressive taxation by virtue of his residing and consuming resources in two nations. His departure only proves that everyone has a threshold past which they are no longer willing to voluntarily participate.

Oh, they dream of higher taxes for others, almost never for themselves. If they wanted to pay more to the government, all they have to do is write a check. The government will happily cash it. Very few people do so, so you know they don't want to actually pay more themselves.

The motivation often seems to be idolatry.

More likely, the motivation is envy. They think raising tax rates on the evil "rich" (a term that's almost never defined except as someone who has more than you), they'll be better off somehow.

Envy is one of the most serious of the 7 Deadly Sins. From Wikipedia:

Like greed and lust, Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire. Envy is similar to jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someones traits, status, abilities, or rewards. The difference is the envious also desire that entity and covet it.

Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically "Neither shall you desire... anything that belongs to your neighbour". Dante defined this as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs."

Hollywood doesn't think highly of capitalism. They like to make movies about the Mafia because to them that's capitalism in its rawest form. But if you wish to see a true picture of how capitalism deforms humans and makes them greedy, sexually exploitative, hypocritical, and dishonest, the proper locus of your study should be Hollywood. Thank God our oil and utility industries are not staffed with such monsters.

I’m a bad person. I know it’s not nice to take joy in the misery of others, but I can’t help but smile when I see a story about bad news in France.

It's very queer how feeling correctly about something makes you "a bad person." Looking at France objectively is a cultural taboo, here, in a way I'd never have imagined before I moved there.

Actually, looking at ANYTHING objectively is a cultural taboo today. I was talking to a friend this morning and the subject turned to Mormonism and, to my surprise, he started reflecting on how difficult it was to get people to see past the "golly-gosh" bullshit, to see how they really behave. He described it as a cultural prison - I told him it was memes - but we both agreed it was stifling because, in the heat of an election, it's not just here in Utah but country-wide, and it'll get worse once Romney's in.

It used to be said, "The truth will set you free," but now it's a death knell,...

Flying dirty. It's an Air Force thing, they talk like that. It means slowing down your jet on purpose by dropping the landing gear and opening the flaps to screw up the airflow over the wings and create drag. You don't actually stall, which is the total loss of airflow, not the engine halting as with cars, the air still flows and the jet still flies but within swirls of its own making all around up and down and that slows down the jet. The pilot taxes the plane to slow it down. There. That there is what you call an analogy!

Hikes must always go upwards. If you put on your backpack and your hiking boots and pick up your hiking sticks and head on down the mountain, then it cannot be a hike down the mountain, that would be a roll, or a plod, or a galumph down the mountain, a walk down the trail, a stroll, but not a hike.

The Stones moved to France in the early '70's to escape Britain's crushingly high taxes. Now the movement is in the opposite direction. It tells you something when the UK tax rate is considered reasonable compared to the French one.

Why do you make such dishonest statements? Hey, read the article, the man said he bugging out to avoid being taxed in to oblivion

Ah, so you're moving the goalposts. The title of this blog entry references tax HIKES, and then links to an article entitled "Johnny Depp Flees France Over Tax Hikes." But if you read the article, Johnny Depp's decision to leave hinges on the issue of double taxation of his income, not on French tax HIKES. Here's the relevant section from the linked article:

"Actor Johnny Depp has moved out of France and returned to America because he didn’t want to become a permanent French resident and pay income tax there. …Depp has now moved his family out of France after government officials asked him to become a permanent resident, as he feared he would end up paying tax in both countries."

In other words, Depp's decision has nothing to do with increases in French tax rates. Therefore what this establishes is that Daniel J. Mitchell is a liar, that you're a liar, and that Althouse linked to an obviously dishonest piece of shit article.

Jake Diamond said... Why do you make such dishonest statements? Hey, read the article, the man said he bugging out to avoid being taxed in to oblivion

Ah, so you're moving the goalposts. The title of this blog entry references tax HIKES, and then links to an article entitled "Johnny Depp Flees France Over Tax Hikes." But if you read the article, Johnny Depp's decision to leave hinges on the issue of double taxation of his income, not on French tax HIKES. Here's the relevant section from the linked article:

"Actor Johnny Depp has moved out of France and returned to America because he didn’t want to become a permanent French resident and pay income tax there. …Depp has now moved his family out of France after government officials asked him to become a permanent resident, as he feared he would end up paying tax in both countries."

In other words, Depp's decision has nothing to do with increases in French tax rates. Therefore what this establishes is that Daniel J. Mitchell is a liar, that you're a liar, and that Althouse linked to an obviously dishonest piece of shit article.

A distinction without a difference, Jake.Of course he's leaving because of taxes.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced today that the government will tax incomes of more than €1 million ($1.25 million) at a rate of 75 percent, according to Bloomberg.

That's in addition to a new 45 percent tax rate for the country's highest earners, and a capital income tax equal to that of wages.

We think this means that if you make €2 million euros, you would pay 45 percent on the first €1 million and 75 percent of the second €1 million to the government, or a total of €1.2 million.

This tax rate compares to 35 percent for the highest bracket of earners in the United States in 2012.

I wonder how much of Depp's (covert) motive for leaving France has to do with the dissolution of his marriage? I mean, this could be a dick move, taking his kids away from their (French) mother, making it harder or impossible for her to maintain her maternal relationship with them.

I didn't bother reading the article, so I don't know if that subject is broached or not.